A New Take on the Power Lunch (Recipes Included)

Who said the four-martini lunch was dead? Certainly not Keith Previte, a cook and film/TV producer, who just released a cookbook titled appropriately “The 4-Martini Lunch.” Previte envisions the book as an everyman’s stylish guide to dining in with the guys.

Billed as the antidote to the cheesy man cave entertaining trend of late, Previte vows to bring back the sophistication of a gentleman’s club nestled within the confines of one’s own home. As a result, this cookbook is as much a cultural call to arms as it is a recipe book.

In “The 4-Martini Lunch,” Previte reveals his most flavorful dishes to pair with the perfect martini like “Wiki Tiki Rack of Lamb”, “Calamari Stuffed with Italian Sausage”, “Braised Pork Butt with Cucumber Slaw” and “Port-Braised Short Ribs.”

The founder and former chef of Chocochicken — a restaurant in Los Angeles that served chocolate fried chicken among its specialties — Previte is set on bringing back iconic power dining with a delicious, high-testosterone twist.

“The 4-Martini Lunch” is available for purchase on Amazon, but to provide you with a “starter set” of sorts, Previte has graciously agreed to share a couple of his high-octane recipes with Apple Eats readers. Herewith “Sicilian Chicken & Peppers” and a “Bone-in 32 Oz. Ribeye Steak.” Note that in the book the recipes are also interspersed with helpful and, in cases, humorously worded, tips, which we had to omit for formatting reasons.

Sicilian Chicken & Peppers

Ingredients

• Oil (for frying)
• 3 oz. garlic powder
• 1 oz. onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 lbs. chicken drumettes
• Red wine vinegar
• 2 jars Mezzetta pepperoncini

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Take a frying pan and heat up enough oil to fill 1/4 inch and bring it to 325° F.
3. Combine 1-1/2 ounces of garlic powder with the onion powder, salt, and flour in a bowl.
4. Add the chicken and coat evenly.
5. When the oil is up to temp, add the chicken.  You want to brown the chicken nicely on each side.
6. While it’s in the oil, put your thumb over the top of the red wine vinegar bottle and carefully shake drops onto the chicken. Do this about every 2-3 minutes. While you’re doing this, continue to sprinkle on the rest of the garlic powder as you rotate the chicken.
7. When they are nice and brown, transfer them to a baking dish. They are not fully cooked yet, by the way, so keep your grubby fingers off them.
8. Once in the dish, immediately hit them with a dash of salt.
9. Then pour the pepperoncini and all the juice over them.
10. Put them in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
11. You can serve immediately, or let cool and refrigerate overnight and reheat the next day.

Bone-in 32 Oz. Ribeye Steak

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 32 oz. prime ribeye steak, bone-in
• 2 Tbsp Previte’s Steak and Meat Seasoning
• 1 Tbsp duck fat or high-heat fat (Crisco)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp butter, cut into 4 pieces

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 250° F.
2. Using a ribbed grill pan, layer the four pieces of bacon down.
3. Season the steak on both sides with the Previte’s Steak and Meat Seasoning
4. Place the steak on top of the bacon.
5. Insert your digital thermometer in the middle of the steak. Don’t get too close to the bone. Place it in the oven.
6. When the internal temperature gets to 114°, pull it from the oven.
7. On the stove, put a cast-iron skillet (I use Smithey) on high.
8. Gently add the duck fat or oil to the now very hot skillet. All you ham hands, back the hell off, because if you are not careful here, you will burn yourself. Long tongs work very well here.
9. Take the steak and put it in the skillet. Yes, that is a lot of smoking coming up.
10. Add the butter now. Sear it on each side for thirty seconds, basting the steak with the butter constantly.
11. Take the steak out of the pan and let it sit for 7-10 minutes. The juices inside the muscle fibers will cool and retract, that way you don’t lose all that amazing flavor and juice when you slice it open.